Swope... FINALLY!

Finally got the mtn bike up and running and made it out to Swope. Plus i pedaled there and back! Can life get any better? It can if you add ice cream.

I'm dreaming of long rides on my mountain bike

For the past week or so i've really been jonsin to ride the mtn bike.

Swope and Blue River are at the top of the list. It seems like Blue River is the forgotten trail. I dont really travel in the local Mtn bike circles so that's an outsiders opinion, but i don't hear many folks talk about it. Personally, i love riding out there, plus it's close to swope so you can ride both. And they're connected by Blue River Parkway... so there's a great road connecting the two. You can pedal to all of it.

I have this thing against loading my bike in my car... i hate to do it. If it's not a race then i avoid it like the plague. Sometimes it's necessary, but Lately, i've been doing too much of it. So these big mountain bike rides i'm envisioning involve pedaling right from my front door.

I've been dreaming of these since last year, but so far they haven't happened. This entire year has been full of start and stop. Get it a good spell of riding, then real life interrupts it, then repeat.

I may be seeing a light at the end of the interruption tunnel.

Time to get the Mtn bike going!

I read that Cadel started today on a special yellow bike, but then switched to his standard bike because he wanted to finish on the bike that got him there. Bad ass.

Somethingclassicin... San Francisco, CA

Love this town.

Rode the wiggle. Ate a burrito in the Mission. Sat on the Alcatraz steps. Drank 7 and 7's... and lots of good coffee. Saw what was apparently George Lucas's inspiration for the AT AT Walkers in Star Wars Episode IV, The Empire Strikes Back. Gave money to buskers. Gave money to homeless folks. Drank more good coffee. Wore pants and jackets at night.

Great town.

Tuesday night in KC... the 75th St Brewery ride

Have you done this ride? It's fun.

Have you heard this song? It's good.

X and i opted for the Brewery ride over out typical Tuesday night crit, and i'm glad we did. The brewery ride is hard, but it's shorter (which was nice due to the extreme heat KC is experiencing right now) plus were going on vacation on Thursday and i didn't feel like having a crazy B racer knock me on my a** before the big trip. Nothing against crazy B racers, unless they knock me on my a**.

This is my view as the front group rides away down Lee blvd, i got tired, they didn't.

I'm still riding the cross bike, did you guys know theres a special washer in the brakes that makes adjustments a snap? As in if the correct part of the pad is not touching the rim. the brakes were squealing something awful but Joe Fashion dropped the knowledge, i had the alan wrench, problem solved. Learning is fun, when its easy.

I'm feeling stronger and am still looking for that one great race on the road bike. Michelob Ultra and hip indie music will get me there.

Ciao

8am Saturday Colavita Ride

I love this ride. It leaves at 8, sometimes 9, from the 18th and Wyandotte st. Volker Bicycles location.

Just riding to the ride is great. I take Ward Parkway to the plaze and then jump on Broadway or Main and take take that all the way to the shop. Life is peaceful at 8am on a saturday.

X came along, she thinks were a bunch of goofballs, she's mostly right. I love it.

Apparently one of the newb's on the team, quite Brian, whose gone from a 5 to a 3 in his first season, was asking about how to do pace lines, ect. X was telling me about this and then she enlightened me on some paceline details, i learned some new stuff. I cant wait to put it into practice at a race, with the other folks who get dropped.

I had to ride my cross bike today since my road bike is in bad shape after the wet crit at last Sundays Tour of Lawrence. A quick note on last weekends Tour of Lawrence crit... i had the best warm up ever. It consisted of riding 1 minute to the Bourgeois Pig, drinking and espresso, riding 1 practice lap, and then racing. I felt fine. I think my new goal is to be in good enough shape so that i can skip the warm up and still race descent.

(Me at the tour of lawrence, it was waaay fun.)

I havent ridden the cross bike since January, it got me excited, but i still have unfinished business on the road. it's fun to go fast, you go fast on the road, it's fun on the road. I've improved on a road bike but so far none of my races have been great, so i've got my eye on Gateway cup, one great race and i'll be satisfied.

Chocolate milk and awesome 80's videos will get me there.

Not much time for blogging....

It seems like i've been going 100 mph for the last few months. Except when i'm in a race, then I move much slower. (that's a joke, but seriously.)

Racing, riding, working.

That leaves little time for blogging. Working 40 hours a week is hard enough. Trying to ride 10 hours a week on top of that and then throw in a life outside bicycles... man, i'm tired just thinking about it. But then I have a decent race, like Tulsa Tough, and i realize Im doing exactly what i want to be doing.

At some point i'll get back in the blog groove because i really do enjoy it, but i've got to feel it. It cant be forced.

You want an update on my cycling progress: Last year i would have been tickled pink with a pack finish in a cat 4 road bike race, this year i can do that pretty consistantly, which im happy about, but it's starting to get old. Now I want to go faster... but if i stick my nose in the wind too much i blow up. So I've got more work to do, which is good because i like pedaling my Bicycle.

Now here's a blast from the past, Alberto Contador at the 2007 (i think) Tour of Missouri...